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Museums

My Lords, I apologise for intervening at the end of the Minister’s remarks when I was not able to listen to the whole debate, but I understand that the topic I wish to approach him on has not been covered. The Minister may have seen last week in the newspapers an article by the director of the British Museum on the assurances given by the Government at the time of the invasion of Iraq that funds would be made available for the reconstruction of Iraq’s cultural heritage. He will be aware that the British Museum sent a mission to Iraq with a view to establishing what needed to be done, in the hope that a plan might be developed in conjunction with the Iraqi cultural authorities that would be funded in part by the United Kingdom. Can the noble Lord tell us whether any additional funding has been made available to the British Museum for that purpose, or whether the Government are considering any such funding? If not, how do they think Iraq will ever recover its pre-eminence in the Middle East in its museums and cultural arts heritage?